Our Venues

Viennese gets a taste of The Valley

So often an early-week look at The Valley can help horses improve there at the races days later, and off the strength of her Monday gallop, Viennese Star could certainly be one of those this Friday night.

The Aaron Purcell-trained two-year-old went to Moonee Valley for a gallop, with Stakes-performed mare Lady Esprit on the inside and two-year-old colt Not A Single Cent on her outer - and Viennese Star proceeded to stop the clock for her 800m gallop in 51.11 seconds.

Compare that to five-year-old short-track specialist Punt Club's 52.74s over the same trip on Monday, and it gives you a small indication of her talent as she went around barely touched by jockey Mark Zahra.

Purcell's assistant trainer Dave Eustace was more circumspect when assessing her chances on debut on Friday night.

"She's a nice filly from the family of Snitzel, so well bred by I Am Invincible. She's had a couple of trials and certainly done enough to go to the races," Eustace said.

"She begins well, has travelled nicely in her trials, but is probably a bit green off the bridle still. Her pedigree suggests she'll be very precocious, she's ready to run and done everything right at home.

"But probably could just have found more, the penny basically hasn't quite dropped yet with her.

"That's why we took her to the Valley on Monday. Mark galloped her around there, we've drawn a gate, we're hopeful of running well but she'll gain a lot of improvement from it."

Viennese Star is a $3.80 chance in the 1000m race for fillies with CrownBet on Friday night.